Tag Archives: subpoenas

FOR the record, this site is not going to waste time debating the merits/effectiveness of reported tactics used by the CIA to elicit life-saving counter-terror intel. More to the point, as to whether said methods were filtered for approval through specific branches of gov’t, is neither here nor there. Oh please, as if permission slips are required to choose “techniques” from “Menu A”(okay) or “Menu B” (no go)! Outrageous. Rest assured, the enemy would just as easily behead each and every American championing soft-shoeing interrogations, as they would those who support “whatever it takes to get the job done”. Besides, are delicate methods an effective way to run intelligence operations? Whom are the leaders kidding?

IN fact, we can all agree that rogue agents (those who “turn”) must be uprooted and severely punished. We get that. But those who are risking their lives in the field dare not be hampered through “supervision” by a battery of legal suits – sitting in the Dept. of Justice – sipping their lattes! Regardless, why should they be forbidden from “improvising” (using water boarding etc.), just as long as intel is gleaned? Alas, are they intelligence operatives or boy scouts? Have mercy. But let’s leave all that aside for now and get to the heart of the matter.

YET in order to conceptualize why Obama Inc. would push for the release of such sensitive material – and despite pleas from cooperating nations – is to internalize, once and for all, that an enemy agent is sitting in the White House.

KNOW this: yes, Senate Demsters, the Anti-American-in-Chief’s lackeys and water boys, officially released the hit job and they too will be held responsible for resultant worldwide Muslim mayhem. In fact, how can they feign – when the sh-t hits the fan – “it ain’t their fault”, knowing that even cartoons of Muhammad and related videos drive them into murderous rampages. Come on…

NEVERTHELESS, don’t be fooled, Brennan was four square behind the release, regardless of any spin put forth that he has the agency’s back and was betwixt and between. Hogwash.

BUT to understand why he (his boss & crew) would place America’s security in the cross hairs, is to understand John Brennan’s true background.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration has been preparing “for months” for the report’s release, which is expected late Tuesday morning.

“There are some indications … that the release of the report could lead to a greater risk that is posed to U.S. facilities and individuals all around the world,” Earnest acknowledged. “So, the administration has taken the prudent steps to ensure that the proper security precautions are in place at U.S. facilities around the globe.”

Earnest said the administration still “strongly supports the release of this declassified summary of the report.”

Nevertheless, Secretary of State John Kerry last week asked the Senate Intelligence Committee to “consider” the timing of the release.

The administration’s stance was criticized by GOP Sen. Richard Burr, the prospective new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Burr, R-N.C., said that Kerry’s request that the report be delayed doesn’t jibe with Earnest’s comments.

“It’s dumbfounding they can call and ask for it to be delayed and then say they want it out. You can’t have it both ways,” Burr told Fox News.

On Sunday, a top Republican lawmaker warned the release could cause “violence and deaths.”

And U.S. officials separately confirmed to Fox News that an advisory has been sent urging U.S. personnel overseas to reassess security measures in anticipation of the release. The message directs all overseas posts, including those used by CIA personnel, to “review their security posture” for a “range of reactions that might occur.”

A similar statement was being sent to military combatant commands to assess their readiness. Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Monday the combatant commands have been urged to “take appropriate force protection measures within their areas of responsibility.”

Asked whether the CIA report ought to be released, Warren said that is a “higher-level policy decision,” but added “there is certainly the possibility the release of this report could cause unrest.”

In Washington, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said America’s allies are predicting “this will cause violence and deaths.” He said U.S. intelligence agencies and foreign governments have said privately that the release of the Senate intelligence panel report on CIA interrogations a decade ago will be used by extremists to incite violence that is likely to cost lives.

“I think this is a terrible idea,” Rogers said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Foreign leaders have approached the government and said, ‘You do this, this will cause violence and deaths.’ Our own intelligence community has assessed that this will cause violence and deaths.”

Rogers is regularly briefed on intelligence assessments. He questioned why the report needed to become public, given that the Justice Department investigated and filed no criminal charges.

The comments by Rogers came after Kerry on Friday urged Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the senator in charge of the report on CIA interrogations, to reconsider the timing of the release.

In addition, a U.S. intelligence official, who was not authorized to be quoted discussing classified intelligence assessments, told the Associated Press that Congress had been warned “of the heightened potential that the release could stimulate a violent response.”

The 480-page report, a summary of a still-classified 6,000 page study, amounts to the first public accounting of the CIA’s alleged use of torture on suspected Al Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

CBS News reported Sunday that the report contains evidence that the CIA went beyond what was “legally allowable,” and that the agency lied to the White House, the Department of Justice and Congress about the effectiveness of the program.

The CIA told Fox News it would not comment until the report is released, but former agency officials have told Fox News that the agency’s program provided it with foundational intelligence about the Al Qaeda network after the Sept. 11 attacks. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden has previously told Fox News that it is not feasible to believe that three different CIA directors and three different deputy directors of the agency conspired over a seven-year period to lie about the program’s effectiveness. Hayden and former CIA General Counsel John Rizzo also have claimed that the program provided evidence that helped direct the 2011 raid that killed Usama bin Laden.

U.S. officials who have read the report say it includes disturbing new details about the CIA’s use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding. {blogger’s note: perhaps these same officials would rather they had been treated to cushy accommodations….oh yeah…they got them at Guantanamo!}

President Obama has previously acknowledged, “We tortured some folks.” The report also says the alleged torture failed to produce life-saving intelligence, a conclusion disputed by current and former intelligence officials, including CIA director John Brennan.

A congressional aide noted to the Associated Press that the White House has led negotiations to declassify the report since April, and that both the president and his director of national intelligence have endorsed its release.

Feinstein has not responded to reports of the Kerry call, though she told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Sunday that “We have to get this report out.”

She told the Los Angeles Times that the harsh interrogations undermined “societal and constitutional values that we are very proud of. Anybody who reads this is going to never let this happen again.” {Hey schmucky Feinstein, what about the right of Americans to live free from terror attacks??}

MORE specifically, DEBKAfile’s assessment below is without equal. Simply put, there is no other outfit which has its pulse on the Islamic world, the heart of the Mid East/Africa, as they do. Americans, westerners, pay heed.

Security raised at US embassies ahead of CIA “torture report” release

DEBKAfile December 9, 2014

The report from the Senate Intelligence Committee will be the first public accounting of the CIA’s use after 9/11 of what critics call torture on al Qaeda detainees held at “black” sites in Europe and Asia. The committee on Tuesday was expected to release a 480-page redacted executive summary of the 6,000-plus-page report compiled by Democrats on the panel. The report refers specifically to three detainees who are described as undergoing torture, including “waterboarding” and sleep deprivation, for several years.

Security has been tightened at US military bases and embassies worldwide in case damning information about CIA interrogations triggers attacks. The Senate panel alleges that the harsh interrogations failed to produce unique and life-saving intelligence — a conclusion disputed by current and former intelligence officials, including CIA Director John Brennan. It is also expected to accuse the CIA of repeatedly lying to Congress, the White House and the public. A Republican minority report is also set to be released, as well as a rebuttal from the CIA.

The Senate report cites the involvement of 54 countries in CIA rendition tactics. Fears are raised that the exposure of foreign bodies and individuals associated with those tactics may place them at risk of revenge attacks by Muslim extremists, including al Qaeda. Former CIA heads warn that publication of the report will irreversibly damage America’s reputation and world influence and deter former collaborators from ties with US intelligence.

SO the urgent question becomes: who but Barack HUSSEIN Obama and John Brennan (and surrogates), enemy agents, would compromise and endanger America’s security, as well as the west at large?

WITH the above implanted in mind, there is an expression in Israel (where this investigative journalist lives) which evokes high levels of frustration and ire; chaval…חבל…loosely translated into “what a freakin’ waste”. Assuredly, many others feel the same, especially when realizing the depths the U.S. has sunk to; a once powerful, highly respected – consequently feared – leader of the free world, a shell of itself. Beyond tragic. Heartbreaking.

INDEED, this western disaster is, for the most part, due to traitors running the nation. In other words, instead of parlaying CIA’s assets into a win-win for America and her allies, Obama and gang placed bull’s-eyes on them and sent signals to their ranks: elicit intel at your own risk, America will not back you up!

DESPICABLY, this is an admin which eschews the rule of law on too many fronts to enumerate, and won’t even comply with subpoenas re “alleged” (read:actual) illegal IRS activities! Egregiously, they opine that releasing intel and tactics is the “right/moral” tack to take. Imagine that. Yes, if subversion were a highly valued leadership attribute, said revelations would certainly be the way to proceed. Forward march.